3/2 (SATURDAY)
$248 MILL BO
1
TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN 2
FANTASY
4070 SCREENS PG-13
115 MINUTES
Kristen Stewart (TWILIGHT, SNOW WHITE AND THE
HUNTSMAN, THE RUNAWAYS, THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF)
Robert Pattinson (TWILIGHT, COSMOPOLIS, WATER FOR
ELEPHANTS, REMEMBER ME)
Taylor Lautner (TWILIGHT, VALENTINE’S DAY, CHEAPER BY
THE DOZEN 2)
Immortality becomes you," Volturi leader Aro (Michael Sheen) hisses to red-irised Bella Swan (Stewart),
who's at last surrendered her body and soul to toothy hubby Edward Cullen (Pattinson), vowing to be his
bloodthirsty missus to infinity and beyond. Long before it's uttered, on the brink of a climax more riveting than
anything this series ever seemed capable of, the sentiment is greatly
felt here as vampirism looks real good on Stewart, in regard to both her
alabaster beauty and feral performance skills.
Shacked up with Edward's family while getting used to her newfound
gifts, which include warp speed and hyper-keen senses, Bella is
instructed to feign humanness when her in-the-dark dad (Billy Burke)
comes to visit, told by Alice (Ashley Greene) to breathe, blink, and
slouch like a mortal. It's tough work for Bella, as lo and behold, the
promise of forever has knocked the hunched-over torpor out of the
young-adult world's queen of angst, who can now dispatch mountain lions, exert animalistic rage, and leap
tall cliffs in a single bound. It's plenty refreshing to see Stewart come to life as the undead, and the movie
itself is uncommonly animated.
This latest and last in an exciting series has more character depth and plot line than the previous
one. The appeal will be huge for all that liked TAKEN 2, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, EXPENDABLES 2,
MEN IN BLACK 3, X-MEN, PROMETHEUS, and THE HUNGER GAMES.
3/5
2
THE BAY HORROR/SCI/FI/THRILLER
$93,000 BO
89 SCREENS
R
85 MINUTES
Kristen Connolly (THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, MEET DAVE,
THE HAPPENING)
Christopher Denham (SHUTTER ISLAND, DUPLICITY, CHARLIE
WILSON’S WAR)
THE BAY which is about ready for wide distribution, is Barry Levinson's most
engaged and entertaining movie since WAG THE DOG, which isn't to say that
he's given up his irksome predilection for a certain bullish type of liberalism.
Levinson's latest is aesthetically adventurous, if not terribly original, using a
mockumentary conceit and employing an assemblage of various types of
footage (video from cell phones and security cameras, B-roll from news reports, digital news cams, and so
on) to create a supposedly realistic vision of ecological horror and bureaucratic indifference run amok. If
nothing else, the overgrown, mutant isopods that chow down on the innards of the residents of a small
coastal town off the Chesapeake Bay are more genuinely unsettling than the paranormal hissy fits found in
THE POSSESSION.
Created in lieu of an abandoned documentary on the dire environmental conditions of the
Chesapeake Bay, which is essentially 40% dead thanks to various contaminants, Levinson's radical
abstraction centers on the grisly events that unfold over a July 4th
celebration, with a young newswoman's (Kether Donohue)
coverage of the events—and her subsequent Skype interview—
serving as the story's anchor. At different points in town, teenagers
are devoured in barely 10 feet of water, isopods rip through faces,
stomachs, and limbs in the middle of the street, and the local
hospital is overrun by cases of what seem to be violent blood
blisters. Night-cam footage of an eco-blogger suggests that the
mutation of the isopods is from a mixture of chemical waste and
chicken droppings seeping into the bay, unregulated due to a seemingly amiable yet uncaring mayor (Frank
Deal).
At once impassioned and wholly manipulative, The Bay is a ruminative worst-case scenario as genre
piece, less interested in the implications of its aesthetic means in terms of the future of filmmaking than in
creating a "realistic" vision of a severe nightmare scenario. Suffering is paramount over any sense of satire
and, naturally, the government has a hand in covering up crucial data from doctors, nurses, scientists, and
police officers who only want to help. It relies on the same unfairly cynical concept that many "issue" films are
built on, that the indulgent corruption of certain government officials would naturally lead them to adopt a
tone of bottom-line heartlessness if the dreadful outcome of such actions threatened to reveal their base
greed and ignorance to a voting public. As honest and realistic as its depiction may be, The Bay is bitter and
condescending. In terms of sheer horror, it's legitimately scary and concise, but its filmmakers' earnest
ambitions to craft a call to arms render the underlying, disturbing facts as believable as Sharktopus.
Fans of HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET, APPARITION, REC 3, DARK TIDE, CARNAGE,
CONTAGION, SCREAM 4 and HANNA.
3/5
3
THE INTOUCHABLES
$11 MILL BO
207 SCREENS
R
COMEDY
112 MINUTES
Francois Cluzet (TELL NO ONE, JANIS AND JOHN, LITTLE
WHITE LIES, ONE FOR THE ROAD)
Omar Sy (MIC MACS, SAFARI, DON’T LIE TOO HARD)
Fabulously wealthy Philippe ( Cluzet) was in a paragliding accident some years
earlier and can't move from the neck down. His wife has died; his adopted
daughter, Elisa (Alba Gaia Bellugi), is a snot-nosed teen; and his staff keeps him
coddled in an upper-class cocoon.
But Philippe goes through caretakers like water. Applying for the new
opening is Driss ( Sy), a guy just out of the slammer after a six-month stint for robbery; he only turns up
because he needs a signature on the rejection slip to make him eligible for unemployment benefits. To the
surprise of personal secretary Magalie (Audrey Fleurot), Philippe hires the lanky, unflappable Driss, knowing
he'll be entertained if nothing else.
Driss' infectious bonhomie makes him indispensable to Philippe, encouraging him in romance and
generally blowing fresh air into the stolid household with his crude but warm-hearted manners. In fact, Driss
is treated as nothing but a performing
monkey (with all the racist associations
of such a term), teaching the stuck-up
white folk how to get "down" by
replacing
Vivaldi
with
"Boogie
Wonderland" and showing off his
moves on the dance floor. It's painful to
see Sy, a joyfully charismatic
performer, in a role barely removed
from the jolly house slave of yore,
entertaining
the
master
while
embodying all the usual stereotypes
about class and race.
The laughs are there albeit a
bit un pc for most viewers. Still, the
quite good. Fans of KILLER JOE,
story is interesting and the cast really
ARBITRAGE,
A
SEPARATION,
LAWLESS, RED LIGHTS and THE
GUARD will find much to enjoy here.
3/5
1
RED DAWN (REMAKE) ACTION
$46 MILL BO
2968 SCREENS
PG-13
95 MINUTES
Chris Hemsworth (THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, STAR TREK,
THOR, A PERFECT GETAWAY)
Isabelle Lucas (IMMORTALS, A HEARTBREAK AWAY,
DAYBREAKERS, THE WEDDING PARTY)
Dan Bradley's feeds the warrior fantasies of adolescent boys with a testosteroneheavy tale of a war free of moral complications—one in which Americans are
blameless civilians, defending their homes from armed invaders. The setting this time is Washington state,
but the guerilla uprising is still led by a pack of kids, most of them
football players or cheerleaders from the local high school. The
country behind the attack isn't Russia, but North Korea, which sends
in paratroopers like so many dandelion spores to blanket the
Spokane sky
This is foremost a story about boys: fathers and sons to
some extent, but mostly brothers. Jed Eckert (Hemsworth) came
back from Iraq just in time to shepherd his little brother, Matt (Josh
Peck), and a few of their friends to safety in the family cabin after the
invasion. In one of too many montages, he puts them through a sort of boot camp, turning them into lean,
mean, fighting machines with ludicrous ease. The one exception is Matt, who chafes under his brother's
leadership, angry at Jed for abandoning him after their mother died. Hemsworth gracefully handles his end of
the labored subplot, but Peck buckles under its weight. For practically the entire movie, he wears a scowl
that's clearly intended to signal manly determination, though it more accurately resembles the pains of
gastritis.
When the Koreans invade, explosions knock over some of the toys in Matt's bedroom, which is the
closest we get to subtlety in a movie whose points are mostly scored with macho mantras, like the
benediction Matt gets from his father (Brett Cullen) after his Wolverines lose a football game just before all
hell breaks loose. "I'm proud of you, son," says Dad. "You did your best, and that's all that really counts." As
one of the teens succinctly puts it: "Dude, we're living Call of Duty. And it sucks."
The action is pretty intense and the story more plausible than when the first one was made. The
appeal will be very strong to all that liked FLIGHT, ALEX CROSS, END OF WATCH, KILLER JOE, TED,
LAWLESS, MEN IN BLACK 3, SAVAGES, and THE HUNGER GAMES.
3/5
FAMILY
1
$150 MILL
WRECK-IT-RALPH
3752 SCREENS
PG
101 MINUTES
Ralph, voiced by John C. Reilly, offers a cherry to his friends —
Disney’s WRECK-IT-RALPH has so much creativity and cleverness that it
becomes almost hampered by its far-flung ideas. The plot begins simple enough,
but when new characters and story twists emerge, the movie teeters on that fine
line between overzealous and overcrowded.
Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is a bad guy with a good heart. He’s a
character stuck in an arcade video game, and his sole purpose in life is to wreck
buildings, just so the hero of the game can rebuild them again. At night, when the
arcade kids have gone home and the game’s characters can let loose in their electronic land, Ralph finds
himself ostracized from the good guys, including Fix-It Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer). Ralph lives in the
dump with a blanket of
bricks to keep him warm. His so-called colleagues have parties in a swanky penthouse, while the man with
the incredibly large fists is relegated to lonesomeness.
When Ralph decides to change his future and win a video game medal (an unthinkable act for a bad
guy), the entire arcade
universe is thrown off-kilter.
There’s rumors of him going
“Turbo,” or rogue.
The script, written by Phil
Johnston and Jennifer Lee, is
beyond clever and much
better than most children’s fare
nowadays. The writers, plus
director Rich Moore, obviously
have a great affinity for all
the ins and outs of the retro
video game world. You’ll see
some of the best characters
present and accounted for,
including Sonic the Hedgehog
and Pac-Man. There’s one scene (perhaps the film’s funniest) where Ralph attends a “Bad Guy” group
meeting that’s similar to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Zombies bump elbows with Satan, and all of the
baddies feel sorry for themselves. Hilarity incarnate.
The voice acting is exquisite, especially from Lynch and Tudy (who sounds like a clown with a lot of
sugar). There’s never a time when a smile leaves one’s face. This movie makes a strong case for best
animated feature of the year. It has so much going for it that there’s too much to enjoy. But a bounty of
delights is always better than a lackluster effort. Bravo for too much good stuff!
All fans of PARANORMAN, RIO, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, FRANKENWEENIE, ICE AGE:
CONTINENTAL DRIFT, MADAGASCAR 3, LORAX, and HUGO will love this one too.
1
LIFE OF PI
$97 MILL BO
2904 SCREENS
3/5
ADVENTURE
PG 127 MINUTES
Suraj Sharma (TV’S MADE IN HOLLYWOOD AND STARLITE)
Gerard Depardieu (POTICHE, DUMAS, IN THE BEGINNING, 36TH
PRECINCT)
A literal crouching tiger is merely one of many visual wonders in Ang Lee's LIFE
OF PI a gently transporting work of all-ages entertainment that melds a
harrowing high-seas adventure with a dreamy meditation on the very nature of
storytelling. Summoning the most advanced digital-filmmaking technology to
deliver the most old-fashioned kind of audience satisfaction, this exquisitely
beautiful adaptation of Yann Martel's castaway saga has a sui generis quality
that's never less than beguiling, even if its fable-like construction and impeccable artistry come up a bit short
in terms of truly gripping, elemental drama.
The visual lushness is apparent from the opening shots of Pondicherry, India, a former French
colony where Santosh Patel (Adil Hussain) and his wife (Tabu) operate a zoo. The younger of their two sons
is Piscine (played by Gautam Belur and Ayush Tandon at ages 5 and 11, respectively), a bright, curious child
whose sense of mischief is tempered by his unusual reverence for God.
The humorous highlights of the boy's upbringing -- how he wisely shortens his name to Pi and becomes a
devout Hindu, Christian and Muslim -- are recounted by his middle-aged, modern-day counterpart (Irrfan
Khan). Dreamlike dissolves help ease the script's shifts between past and present, which feel clunky and
prosaic even as they lay the groundwork for the slippery metaphysical questions
that will arise later.
Having decided to sell the zoo and move to Canada, the Patels find
themselves, along with a few remaining animals, aboard a Japanese freighter
that swiftly capsizes in a thunderstorm, leaving 17-year-old Pi (Suraj Sharma) the
sole human survivor as he manages to climb into a lifeboat.
It's an astonishing sequence, rendered all the more so by the lucidity of the
direction; rather than resorting to herky-jerky lensing and editing, Lee uses
relatively long takes, smooth cuts and seamlessly integrated f/x to navigate the viewer through the action.
Even as the waves heave and roll (to especially fearsome effect in 3D), the film finds room for isolated
moments of haunting poetry, such as the sight of the ship's ghostly white lights descending into the abyss.
Once the storm retreats, Pi realizes a few zoo denizens have made it onto the lifeboat, although the food
chain soon dictates that the only remaining animal onboard is a ferocious 450-pound Bengal tiger,
incongruously named Richard Parker. Pi realizes he's going to have to tame the tiger, a thinly veiled
metaphor for his own inner beast, and as the days stretch into weeks and months, the relationship between
these two unlikely companions shifts movingly, and almost imperceptibly, from mutual wariness into
something as close to love as the laws of interspecies friendship can allow.
The visuals are stunning and the story absolutely absorbing with a very new and young cast. Fans
of CLOUD ATLAS, TRANSYLVANIA HOTEL, BRAVE, MAGIC OF BELLE ISLE, LORAX, WE BOUGHT A
ZOO and HOP.
3/5
3
CALIFORNIA SOLO
DRAMA
NR
95 MINUTES
Robert Carlyle (THE FULL MONTY, 28 WEEKS LATER, ERAGON,
FORMULA 51)
Alexia Rasmussen (OUR IDIOT BROTHER, LOSERS TAKE ALL,
TANNER HALL, THE QUEEN OF GREENWICH VILLAGE)
A former rock 'n' roller withers on the vine. Robert Carlyle turns in a committed
performance as Lachlan, an alcoholic and guilt-ridden Scottish guitarist who's
hung up his axe to work on a Southern California organic farm.
Given plenty of space here for bluster, monologues and hard drinking, even Carlyle can't manage to
make the burnout that is Lachlan more than a barely likable (and mostly annoying) case of self-destruction in
action. Lachlan's inability, or unwillingness, to correct his ways, combined with his second-fiddle (or guitar in
this case) role in long-forgotten Brit grunge-era band the Cranks, makes him a quintessential Little Man, but
one without much depth or compelling interest.
This is a major problem for what's fundamentally a character study, starting with sylvan days in the
fields of Robinson Farms, just north of Los Angeles, where Lachlan works farming and then selling his
produce at various farmers' markets. In his off time, he hosts a podcast titled "Flameouts," about famous
musicians who died too soon, but his favorite recreational activity is boozing it up at the local bar. After one
such night, he's arrested on a DUI.
Despite his green-card status -- Lachlan says he practically feels like an American citizen -- he
learns that this arrest, combined with an old warrant for possession of pot when he was touring with the
Cranks, could compel U.S. immigration services to deport him back to the U.K. With virtually nothing saved
in the bank, Lachlan can hardly afford his attorneys, whom he feels aren't helping him much anyway.
In an attempt to procure cash, Lachlan visits the Cranks' former manager, Wendell (a well-cast
Michael Des Barres), who spurns him, reminding him that it was Lachlan who was responsible for the death
of his brother, the band's gifted lead vocalist-guitarist. In such scenes, Lewy's script is less attuned to the
way rock 'n' rollers talk, and more concerned with pressing character and story details in as direct a fashion
as possible.
While Carlyle's Lachlan, charming with his thick brogue and
longish sandy locks, conveys the look and demeanor of an aging
rocker fallen on hard times, his character is perilously close to a
cliche, though Lewy fortunately avoids having Lachlan suddenly
turn over a new leaf. Ultimately, though, when confronted by key
people from his past on the eve of what appears like certain
deportation, Lachlan gets a contrived opportunity at redemption.
This is a little movie that will attract those that liked ROCK
OF AGES, BANDSLAM, THE ROCKER, ONCE, and STEP UP
REVOLUTION.
3/12
$6 MILL BO
3
HITCHCOCK
561 SCREENS
DRAMA
PG-13 98 MINUTES
Anthony Hopkins (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, AMISTAD, MEET
JOE BLACK, 360, THE RITE)
Helen Mirren (ARTHUR (REMAKE,) THE DEBT, THE
TEMPTRESS, GOSFORD PARK)
Scarlett Johansson (LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE BLACK
DAHLIA, WE BOUGHT A ZOO, IRON MAN 2)
Jessica Biel (TOTAL RECALL (REMAKE), CELLULAR, THE
RULES OF ATTRACTION, ULEE’S GOLD)
Following the 1959 success of NORTH BY NORTHWEST Hitchcock ( Hopkins), annoyed by press coverage
suggesting he should quit while he's ahead, decides to tackle something bold and different: an adaptation of
Robert Bloch's suspense novel PSYCHO (or, as pronounced in the helmer's British
drawl, "Psy-choowww"). Bloch's sordid tale of transvestism, incest and matricide
strikes almost everyone as a tasteless choice of material for a world-class director,
and when Paramount head Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow) refuses to finance the
picture, Hitch opts to pony up the relatively low $800,000 budget himself, in
exchange for a cut of the profits.
Despite her own reservations, especially when they're forced to mortgage the
house, Alma ( Mirren), always her husband's closest confidante and often uncredited
collaborator, lends him her customarily wry support. At the same time, she seeks
another creative outlet fine-tuning a screenplay by longtime friend Whitfield Cook
(Danny Huston), baldly depicted here as a cad with more charisma than talent.
Considerable time is spent addressing the director's strained relations with
actress Vera Miles ( Biel) and his tender rapport with his new star, Janet Leigh ( Johansson), who fondly
notes that, whatever Hitch's flaws, "compared to Orson Welles, he's a sweetheart." By contrast, Anthony
Perkins (James D'Arcy) gets just a few fidgety lines and a coy, smirking reference to the actor's sexuality,
and the film only glancingly acknowledges key contributors such as scribe Joseph Stefano (Ralph Macchio)
and title designer/pictorial consultant Saul Bass (Wallace Langham). Cinephiles and academics may take
issue with numerous other omissions (one never catches even a glimpse of the Universal lot's Bates Motel
set, for example).
The cast does quite a job at recreating what must have been pretty stressful times. Hopkins, with his
makeup, looks very much the part and his acting skills bring it home. A dense film appealing to those that
liked THE SESSIONS, 127 HOURS, ANNA KARENINA, THE MASTER, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, BLUE
LIKE JAZZ, THE IRON LADY and the KING’S SPEECH.
3/12
2
$14 MILL BO
PLAYING FOR KEEPS
2986 SCREENS
COMEDY
PG-13 105 MINUTES
Gerard Butler (300, PS I LOVE YOU, SHATTERED, NIM’S ISLAND,
GUILTY HEARTS)
Jessica Biel ( VALENTINE’S DAY, THE A-TEAM, THE TALL MAN,
TOTAL RECALL (2011)
Catherine Zeta-Jones (ROCK OF AGES, THE REBOUND,
CHICAGO, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY)
Dennis Quaid ( SILVERADO, THE ROOKIE, THE BIG EASY, THE
DAY AFTER TOMORROW, SOUL SURFER)
An opening sequence uses cleverly degraded faux-video footage to show studly George Dryer (Butler) at the
mid-'90s height of his soccer career. Several years later, he's living in a Virginia suburb, struggling to make
the rent and attempting to re-establish a connection with his former wife, Stacie (Biel), and their young son,
Lewis (Noah Lomax).
Stacie, who's about to remarry, has made peace with George, and encourages him to spend time
with his son. Conveniently enough, Lewis' soccer team needs a coach, and his deadbeat dad fits the bill
perfectly. Too perfectly: George proves popular not just with the kids, but
with their single and/or unhappily married moms, who just can't get enough
of the tousle-haired athlete and his irresistible accent.
Butler, playing his second athletic father figure of the season (after
"Chasing Mavericks"), is solid enough, and gets to speak with his native
brogue, though his scruffy, mildly charming meathead routine is starting to
wear thin. It's Biel who almost singlehandedly elevates the picture to a realm
of honest feeling: Providing a classy corrective to her ill-served distaff costars, the actress makes her character smart, tough, yet still achingly
vulnerable, signaling years of long-suffering backstory with her eyes alone.
Biel is so good that, when the time inevitably comes for Stacie to choose
between the two men in her life, one yearns for her to consider herself first.
This is a nice little movie that will play well for those that liked HIT AND RUN, TED, PITCH
PERFECT, THE WATCH, THAT’S MY BOY, FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY and THE LUCKY ONE.
3/12
1
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
$100 MILL BO
3672 SCREENS
PG
FAMILY
97 MINUTES
Based on the Guardians of Childhood book series by William Joyce, RISE OF
THE GUARDIANS has none of those premises so simple and brilliant as to
induce a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that smack to the head. The idea is that famous
figures from children’s lore all exist and work together to protect kids from harm.
These appointed “guardians” are Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny
(Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman, who is mute.
Leading them all is “Manny,” the Man in the Moon, who appears to them as,
well, the moon. When Pitch, the Bogeyman (Jude Law) invades Santa’s castle
and reveals his plans to spread fear around the world, Manny decides to recruit
a new team member, and summons Jack Frost (Chris Pine) for the job.
Frost is portrayed as an amiable teen slacker (complete with hoodie), who’s spent the 300-odd years
of his existence just tooling around the world having fun and causing icy mischief. His problem is that since
not enough children of the world believe in him, they also can’t see him, unlike the rest of the guardians, so
he’s led something of a lonely and purposeless existence.
The unconventional design of the guardians makes for a lot of the film’s charm. In a nod to Saint Nick’s
European origins, Santa is patterned after a scimitar-wielding Russian Cossack, complete with accent. The
Tooth Fairy is a luminous, multicolored hummingbird hybrid. The Easter Bunny is a pugnacious scrapper
from the Outback. Sandman is impish and childlike, but brimming with power in the guise of the magical
golden sand he uses to communicate as well as to create happy dreams. Pitch is the simplest of the figures,
dressed in basic black, with a hawk nose and yellow eyes that convey menace without being too scary for
the intended audience. As the bogeyman invades and sabotages the
various guardians’ realms we also get to see how their operations run:
who’s really in charge of making Santa’s toys (it’s not who you think), how
your teeth get out from under your pillow, etc. There’s a lot of creativity on
display, and like most modern animation, it truly looks like a storybook come
to life, full of warmth, deep colors and sparkles.
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is definitely fun, and definitely worthy
of a holiday outing to the theater. Congrats, DreamWorks, Santa just
brought you a bump in your average. Fans of HOP, RINGO, HOTEL
TRANSYLVANIA, ICE AGE, HAPPY FEET, UP, CARS, and BRAVE will adore this one too.
3/12
3
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
$350,000
15 SCREENS
R
DRAMA
118 MINUTES
Sean Penn (MYSTIC RIVER, I AM SAM, SWEET AND LOWDOWN,
THE GAME, CARLITO’S WAY, STATE OF GRACE)
Frances McDormand (FARGO, NORTH COUNTRY, LAUREL
CANYON, PRIMAL FEAR)
Judd Hirsch (INDEPENDENCE DAY, TV’S TAXI and NUMBERS, A
BEAUTIFUL MIND, SERPICO)
Paolo Sorrentino's coolness credentials are well established, but he's earned the
right to be considered "cool" in an entirely different way with "This Must Be the Place," a film that brims with
warmth, humanity and respect in ways one doesn't often find in the work of coolmeisters like David Lynch
and Quentin Tarantino. Quirky, hilarious and moving, Sorrentino's first English-lingo production is a road trip
of stunning scope yet deep intimacy, featuring an aged rock star-turned-Nazi hunter played by Sean Penn at
his transformative best.
Penn's Cheyenne is a relic of the '80s, a man whose brain seems fried from too much heroin and
booze, who suffers from sciatica and moves with the stiffness of an arthritic zombie. Wise investments mean
he doesn't have to worry about money and he lives in a Dublin mansion with his wife of 35 years, Jane (
McDormand). Befitting her name, Jane is uncomplicated, down-to-earth, real.
He's more complex, aware of his limitations as a pop star yet unable to move on, guilt-ridden over the double
suicide of two brothers who took the Gothic despair in Cheyenne's lyrics to their extreme, and insecure about
his father's love. The latter forms the pic's jumping-off point when Cheyenne heads to New York upon
learning that his father, a Jewish
Orthodox Holocaust survivor he
hasn't spoken to in 30 years, is
dying. He arrives too late, but is told
by cousin Richard (Liron Levo) that
his dad was obsessed with tracking
down Aloise Lange (Heinz Lieven),
a camp guard at Auschwitz.
Cheyenne decides to continue the
search, from Bad Axe, Mich., to
Alamogordo, N.M.
Like all great directors who
make a road movie, Sorrentino
captures the physical location as
well as the inner transformation, and
in keeping with the genre he also
knows Harry Dean Stanton has to
be included (playing the man who patented wheels on suitcases -- how's that for extratextual symbolism?)..
He gets it, just as he gets the Holocaust's omnipresence in the lives of those affected (contrasting Penn's
unlikely hunter with Judd Hirsch as a famed Nazi tracker), revealing the tragedy without dwelling on the
horror.
All the acting is strong, from McDormand's warm, straight-thinking companion to Eve Hewson as an
Irish teenage fan and friend of Cheyenne's coping with a sense of abandonment. There's even an
extraordinary concert scene that'll have auds scratching their heads at how it's done.
The pic may baffle but is certain to generate massive highbrow press and long-term cult status as it
tells a very compelling story. Fans of THE SESSIONS, KILLING THEM SOFTLY, COSMOPOLIS, LIBERAL
ARTS, BLUE LIKE JAZZ, THE DEBT, PIRATE RADIO, BLUE VALENTINE, and NOWHERE BOY will appreciate this
one a lot.
3/19
2
BACHELORETTE
$700,000 BOX OFFICE
83 SCREENS
COMEDY
R 187 minutes
Kristin Dunst (SPIDER MAN 1, 2 and 3, MONA LISA SMILE, WAG
THE DOG, SMALL SOLDIERS)
Lizzy Caplan (HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, CLOVERFIELD, LOVE IS
THE DRUG, MEAN GIRLS)
There's a little trend out there among new brides called "Trash the Dress," wherein
the just-married missus hires a photographer to shoot an addendum for her wedding
album, documenting the symbolic and oft-outlandish destruction of her lily-white
gown. In this movie, the latest naughty-girl comedy to walk down the aisle paved by BRIDESMAIDS, this
concept of desecrating the ultimate icon of womanhood is perfectly utilized as a motif, with the hallowed
dress of bride-to-be Becky (Rebel Wilson) tagging along for every wedding's-eve misdeed of bridesmaids
Regan (Dunst), Gena ( Caplan), and Katie (Isla Fisher). In a single night, after being unwittingly torn in half
by the trio, the plus-size garment is bled on, tainted with semen, tossed amid curbside trash, and even used
as a feminine wipe by an off-duty stripper. Its repair serves as the motivator of the ladies' wild evening (which
fast descends into a swirl of sex, drugs, and painful self-assessment), and it emerges as a multitasking
metaphor, stained to reflect the savagery of woman's inhumanity to woman and functioning as a spiritual
stand-in for Becky, the fat one of the four whose post-high school goodness karmically spares her the afterhours misery.
This nearly pitch-black comedy is better than its tiresome use of '90s pop references,
no matter how much they illuminate what the gals bonded over back in the day. And
given the strength of the howl-worthy stunts and perversions that dominate the third
act, it's a little unforgivable that the film is so content to elicit mere chuckles through
much of the first two. But what smoothly pilots the viewer through the movie's peaks
and valleys is its fabulous triple-threat of leading ladies, each of whom brings unique
and vivid life to a keenly written archetype. Playing the type-A maid of honor who's
most unnerved that the "ugly friend" is tying the knot first, Dunst has never embodied
such a deliciously efficient bitch, and she epitomizes the film's frenemy themes,
making it wholly believable that Regan loves and hates Becky in equal measure. As
a bohemian brunette whose introspection has stunted her growth and prolonged her
drug use (she smuggles a baby-powder bottle full of cocaine to the festivities),
Caplan offers a wealth of self-indulgent cynicism that's probably most indicative of her character's
generation. And best in show is most definitely Fisher, whose laugh riot of a party girl spikes the movie with
some much-needed comic extremism.
With the R-rated comedy having passed the novelty of its resurgence to
become something mindlessly recycled, it's harder and harder to find
something that's foul-mouthed and also worthwhile. Headland's badbehavior romp remains scaldingly distinct thanks to its cutting insights
into modern female relationships, which seem increasingly complicated
and bafflingly contradictory. The developments that Regan, Gena, and
Katie undergo may seem a wee bit tidy, but the mess of feelings they
have about Becky and themselves is anything but. In the thick of trying to
salvage that ever-violated wedding dress, resentment toward the bride is coupled with a palpable, collective
self-loathing—all the more reason to get those damned spots out.
A fun outing that will please all that liked HERE COMES THE BOOM, THE VOW, FOR A GOOD
TIME CALL, NEW YEAR’S EVE, THIS MEANS WAR, THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT, and CRAZY
STUPID LOVE.
3/19
$15,456
3
PRICE CHECK
25 SCREENS
NR
COMEDY
92 MINUTES
Eric Mabius (TV’S UGLY BETTY, THE L WORD, CSI MIAMI)
Parker Posey (TV’S THE GOOD WIFE, NEW GIRL, PARKS AND
RECREATION)
PRICE CHECK, a new film by writer-director Michael Walker, is being billed as a
comedy about the “high price of a middle-class life.” It stars Eric Mabius (Ugly
Betty) as Pete Cozy, a husband and father who works a 9-to-5 gig in the pricing
department of a midsize supermarket chain. It’s not the most glamorous of jobs,
but it’s almost enough to support his wife, Sara (Annie Parisse), and their young son. Though the bills are
piling up, Pete and Sara make due with what they have. (And don’t pick up the phone when the creditors
call.)
Things change for Pete when he gets a new boss—the power-hungry, highly strung, Maaloxguzzling Susan Felders, played by the entertaining Parker Posey. Susan’s not afraid to make big changes to
make their company a bigger player in the corporate grocery store game. She taps Pete—because of his
economics degree from Dartmouth—to step up and help her implement
these changes.
At first, Pete’s not sure about Susan and checks in with old
contacts in the music business (marketing indie bands was what he really
wanted to do after college). But he and Sara are enjoying the increased
income, so he throws himself into work. With more money comes more
problems, and Pete is forced to spend more time at work and less time at
home. He finds himself attracted to power, his new title, and, not
surprisingly, his boss.
On paper, Pete is conflicted, torn between being a businessman and family man, but Mabius doesn’t have
the gravitas to turn into a soul-searching Ryan Bingham (George Clooney in Up in the Air) or even a Gordon
Gecko-lite (Wall Street). Mabius’ Pete is a milquetoast middle manager who barely registers any emotion at
all—even when he’s promoted to VP or cheats on his wife. Posey does her best with the material at hand,
presenting a ball-busting female boss who makes costumes mandatory for the office Halloween party,
crashes a nursery school costume party dressed as a sexy Pocahontas and throws the men she sleeps with
under the corporate bus.
An OK film that will attract those that liked BUTTER, WHY STOP NOW, THE WORDS, FOR THE
LOVE OF MONEY, THIS MEANS WAR and DAMSELS IN DISTRESS.
3/19
$290 MILL BO
1
THE HOBBIT
FAMILY
4100 SCREENS PG-13 169 MINUTES
Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy was as
memorable for the initial gale-force sigh of relief it elicited from fans as for all the
lucre, awards and merchandise that followed. After all, thanks to Jackson, Fran
Walsh, Philippa Boyens, cast and crew, the world that was brought to life, the
themes that were introduced and the story that was told was closer to the letter and
spirit of the source material than anyone would have thought possible. Not
surprisingly, the news that Jackson would be taking over the directing reins from
Guillermo del Toro for LotR’s precursor, THE HOBBIT, fans rejoiced—Middle Earth
would stay the same!
And it has, pretty much. For many, this will provide a welcome return to the lands of New Zeal-I mean,
Middle Earth. Though some may quibble over a lack of tonal and thematic distinction between the respective
source material (heroically epic LotR versus the more whimsical, fairy tale-ish (HOBBIT), the Oscar-winning
production design of Jackson and crew is refreshingly consistent. From the first few strains of Howard
Shore’s soundtrack, it’s good to be back.
Plenty of familiar faces await—Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Old Bilbo (Ian Holm) via
cameo; Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Elrond (Hugo
Weaving) for potentially lengthier roles in the sequels; and of course, Ian McKellen’s
Gandalf, here for an extended stay. Joining them are Martin Freeman as a young
Bilbo and thirteen actors, mostly unrecognizable beneath the dwarf-ness of it all
(which should at least help avoid any pesky type-casting).
Much as with LotR, the casting is a strength. As the diffident Bilbo, Freeman seems
immediately familiar and comfortable in the role. Richard Armitage brings an authority and somber presence
to the role of Thorin Oakenshield that is crucial to the story that will follow. The rest of the company are
distinguishable enough in dialogue and appearance to ensure an audience will know them by look and
behavior, if not name, by film’s end.
More importantly, this first installment allays another fear unique to this second delving into Tolkein’s world.
Unlike the LotR trilogy, in which the original material of three large books was condensed down to fit into
three (still very long) films, THE HOBBIT is a small book with smaller themes being stretched to three.
Instead of worrying about what or who would be left out (oh, Tom Bombadil!) with The Hobbit, it’s a question
of “What will they add?” Initially, at least, the “filler” is pretty filling. An opening sequence providing the back
story of the dwarven kingdom of Erebor’s rise and fall is riveting, as is a flashback to Thorin’s battlefield
bravery during a failed attempt to re-occupy Moria. (All in all, it was a rough few years for dwarvenkind.)
The CGI is convincing in its more sedate moments—the scenery enhancement, the trolls, Gollum’s cave—
but becomes less so the more frantic the pace. (The less said about Radagast the Brown and his sled of little
bunny foo foos, the better.)
That said, the bothersome aspects of THE HOBBIT won’t overwhelm the thrill felt by many (maybe most?) of
finally seeing some of the fantasy genre’s most iconic scenes brought to life. The initial meal at Bilbo’s, the
troll encounter, and, of course, Bilbo’s first, fateful meeting with Andy Serkis’ exquisitely realized Gollum—
they are worth the price of admission.
Fans of LORD OF THE RINGS, HARRY POTTER, HOP, RANGO, THE MUPPETS, SPY KIDS,
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and STAR WARS will just love this one to death.
3/19
1
ZERO DARK THIRTY
$60 MILL BO
2946
R
THRILLER
157 MINUTES
Jessica Chastain (THE HELP, TREE OF LIFE, STOLEN, TAKE
SHELTER, THE DEBT)
Mark Strong (THE GUARD, THE EAGLE, TINKER TAILOR
SOLDIER SPY, ROBIN HOOD, KICK-ASS)
Kyle Chandler (TV’S FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, SUPER 8, THE
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, MULHOLLAND FALLS)
James Gandolfini (HBO’S THE SOPRANO’S, THE MEXICAN, GET
SHORTY, CRIMSON TIDE, 8MM, A CIVIL ACTION)
Opportunely held for release until after the presidential election had played out, "Zero Dark Thirty" arrives
shrouded in nearly as much mystery as bin Laden's whereabouts before news broke that a team of Navy
Seals had successfully terminated his life on May 2, 2011. The title, military-speak for half-past midnight,
refers to the Al Qaeda leader's time of death, theoretically promising a flashy first-hand account of the raid
itself. But Bigelow and Boal reduce the spectacular assault on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad,
Pakistan, to the last half-hour in order to dedicate the rest of the film to the lesser-known backstory.
By forcing partisan politics into the wings (President George W. Bush goes entirely unseen, while
auds' only glimpse of President Obama is during a 2008 campaign interview), the filmmakers effectively give
gender politics the whole stage: The pic presents the highest-profile U.S. military success in recent memory
as the work of a single woman, "Maya" (Jessica Chastain), inspired by a real CIA analyst Boal discovered
during his research, and presented here as the only government official convinced that bin Laden wasn't
"hiding in some cave" (Bush's words), but somewhere she could find him.
Stepping up from a year busy with supporting roles, Chastain may at first seem an unusual choice for the
lead. But she shows she has the chops to embody the pic's iron-nerved protag, holding her own in the
testosterone-thick world of CIA black sites and top-level Washington boardrooms. She first appears as
witness to a military interrogation in which a colleague resorts to extreme measures to force information from
an Al Qaeda money handler (Reda Kateb). Compared with her wild-eyed cowboy of a colleague, Dan (Jason
Clarke), Maya's body language suggests a little girl, clearly uncomfortable with the waterboarding and sexual
humiliation that were common practice in the morally hazy
The film opens with audio of a terrified victim of the World Trade Center attack playing over a black
screen and uses the emotional power that clip dredges up to fuel everything that follows.
The result is neither particularly entertaining nor especially artful, as the filmmakers take a lean, "All the
President's Men"-style approach to dramatizing an investigation that took nearly a decade to bear fruit. But
Boal has clearly constructed this as a more journalistic alternative to a generic gung-ho approach. The
script's blood runs thick with observational detail and military jargon, skipping forward years at a time
between scenes to focus on one of two types of incident.
The first concerns the slow but steady progress in Maya's investigation, which hinges on her
conviction that any clues they can discover about bin Laden's courier will eventually lead them back to UBL
(the military acronym for bin Laden) himself. The second type involves an ongoing series of terrorist attacks
that continue to claim lives as long as bin Laden goes free (never mind that they will not stop once he's
dead). Bigelow keeps her audience on its toes by alternating between the two, allowing virtually no room for
subplots or superfluous character baggage beyond what's needed for the task at hand.
With its handheld camerawork, naturalistic lighting and dialogue-drowning sound design (especially heavy on
ambient helicopters), the film reflects the latest fashion in cinematic realism, compromised only slightly by the
bare-minimum mood setting from Alexandre Desplat's Middle East-inflected score. Chastain's presence
reminds us we're watching a movie, and yet, this slight degree of self-consciousness serves to reinforce the
point that it's a woman pushing the process forward.
Maya may not be made of the same stuff as her male colleagues, but that's essential to the
operation's success. While those around her equivocate and refuse to take action, she sticks to her guns and
keeps track, in dry-erase marker, of the
bureaucratic delays since they've
located bin Laden.
Finally, when the off-camera Obama
gives her mission the green light,
Maya stares down a pair of cocky Navy
Seals (Chris Pratt and Joel Edgerton)
and tells them in no uncertain terms that
she has no patience for their macho
B.S. Only then does Bigelow offer auds
what they paid to see: a reconstruction of the raid on bin Laden's
compound. Virtuoso as the sequence
is to behold, it lacks both the detail of
Matt Bissonnette's bestselling insider
memoir "No Easy Day" and the visceral
immediacy of this year's earlier
Seals-supported indie, "Act of Valor," as
well as the satisfaction of seeing the
dead bin Laden's face (also withheld by
the U.S. goverment).
Dramatically speaking, the raid
feels almost anti-climactic -- an
epilogue to a personal crusade that ends the moment Maya is taken seriously. Still, considering how seldom
female storytellers have been given a chance to operate on this scale, it's fair to let Bigelow overturn
narrative expectations to some degree. The ultra-professional result may be easier to respect than enjoy, but
there's no denying its power, both as a credible reimagining of what went down and a welcome example of
distaff resolve prevailing in an arena traditionally dominated by men.
The power of this film will be loved by all that liked THERE MUST BE BLOOD, ARGO, COMPANY
MEN, LOOPER, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE KING’S SPEECH, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, and
THE GUARD. An across the board must see movie.
3/19
1
LES MISERABLES MUSICAL/DRAMA
$138 MILL BO
2927 SCREENS
PG-13
158 MINUTES
Hugh Jackaman (X-MEN Series, BUTTER, REAL STEEL,
PRESTIGE)
Russell Crowe (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, GLADIATOR, 3:10 TO YUMA,
THE INSIDER, MYSTERY ALASKA)
Anne Hathaway (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, LOVE AND OTHER
DRUGS, VALENTINE’S DAY)
The long-running musical (first performed in Paris in 1980) from which this film is based is a sung-through
production containing almost no spoken dialogue. The challenge is that with the story and lyrics
unchangeable, Director Tom Hooper’s decisions on tone and scale are crucial in making us care about the
characters, especially since this material easily slips into grandiloquence. Does Hooper want the visuals to
serve the characters, or do the characters just get us from one epic, Oscar-baiting set piece to the next? The
answer is both. His big idea is the minutes-long, uninterrupted take, shot in close-up. He tries this early-on
for "What Have I Done?", where a humbled Valjean ( Jackman), given mercy by the kindly Bishop Myriel
(Colm Wilkinson), decides to turn his life around. The director returns to the motif when fired factory worker
and shamed single mother Fantine ( Hathaway) laments her hopeless future in the musical's signature song,
"I Dreamed a Dream." Some may argue that Hooper's reliance on close-ups betrays his roots in British TV,
but really it provides the audience with an intimate view of the characters they cannot get when experiencing
the work by novel or musical, its two most popular forms to date.
No matter how he shoots the songs—the best numbers are the rousing "At the End of the Day," the
mischievous "Master of the House" and the thrilling "One Day More"—they're so magnificent that your spirits
will be inflamed, or at least sparked. Among this extremely well-chosen cast, Jackman, is astonishing as
Valjean, a parole-jumper hiding out with the priests and peasants of 19th century France. Jackman works
both sides of Valjean's physical and spiritual transformation: at the outset, upon release from the prison
where's he spent almost 20 years for stealing bread, his eyes are hollow and his visage long and low. By the
end, he is fuller, greyer, distinguished and tired, having kept his promises while being stalked by the very
Catholic themes of sacrifice and salvation. As Fantine, Hathaway is breathtakingly raw, almost to the point of
being too theatrical. Still, her supernatural ability to project focus and passion convinces us that Valjean
would dedicate his life to caring for Fantine's daughter, Cossette (Amanda Seyfried, singing in a thin, birdlike
vibrato), the key act of charity that sends him towards spiritual redemption.
Hooper cleverly required the actors to perform their songs live on-set and the finished film contains
no lip synching or post-production vocal enhancements. This significant choice pays
off almost subconsciously. For Russell Crowe, who plays Valjean's relentless pursuer
Inspector Javert, singing live is nothing new. He has fronted numerous rock bands,
although that's a long way from the more formal, demanding style required of him
here. Within this new context, Crowe's huskier voice is a completely workable
counterpoint to the angelic falsettos and unabashed emotionality of the other
characters and, thank goodness, he can firmly hold a note. What works less is
Crowe's rather one-note reading of the character. In Crowe's Javert is simply a
Terminator bent on capturing Valjean, and by the time his fealty to the law gives way
to the fatal realization that he's been shown mercy he could never return, it's too tight
a turn for the character.
What's often lost when concentrating on the more mainstream (read:
romantic) aspects of the story is that LES MISERABLE is a political work about
justice, morally, legally and financially. Hooper's desire to create a timeless film requires he takes the story's
progressive politics at face value—he doesn't dare suggest the June Rebellion of 1832 that occupies the last
third of the movie has any relevance to the socio-economic struggles of today. The critical player here is
Marius (played by Eddie Redmayne in an absolutely revelatory performance), who straddles the two primary
storylines that comprise the movie's homestretch: the Rebellion and the fate of Fantine's daughter Cosette.
In 2011, the London-born actor raised some eyebrows playing opposite
Michelle Williams in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. Seeing him here, with his
boyish, freckled, imperfect face, delivering "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is
to see an actor fully arrive from relatively nowhere—it's thrilling. Also notable is
Samantha Barks as Éponine, an unknown who holds her own against a highpowered cast that includes Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter,
who gift the film some much-needed jokes in their roles as dastardly innkeepers.
This worshipful,and inspiring film is built to please. It's built to reignite the coals of the devout and
steamroll the uninitiated. The cast is quite good and the film will have very strong appeal to all that liked
LINCOLN, ARGO, FLIGHT, THE MASTER, END OF WATCH, TO ROME WITH LOVE, THE BEST EXOTIC
HOTEL and MOONRISE KINGDOM.
3/22
$67 MILL BO
1
THIS IS 40
2931 SCREENS
COMEDY
R 134 MINUTES
Leslie Mann ( THE CHANGE UP, KNOCKED UP, RIO, THE 40
YEAR OLD VIRGIN)
John Lithgow ( TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, CLIFF HANGER,
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, LEAP YEAR)
Megan Fox (FRIENDS WITH KIDS, TRANSFORMERS,
JENNIFER’S BODY)
Albert Brooks ( MEAN STREETS, BROADCAST NEWS, MODERN
ROMANCE, LOST IN AMERICA)
Judd Apatow's instincts have rarely been sharper, wiser or more relatable than in "This Is 40," an acutely
perceptive, emotionally generous laffer about the joys and frustrations of marriage and middle age. Boasting
the empathy, texture and underlying seriousness that have characterized the filmmaker's output, this wartsand-all family portrait is anchored by splendid turns from Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, reprising their already
full-bodied supporting roles from "Knocked Up." Although a more mature work than its 2007 predecessor in
every sense, "This" is still a bracingly ribald, foul-mouthed affair that will score as a year-end crowdpleaser
and home-format favorite.
From its candidly observed first scene, in which a hot-and-heavy lovemaking session suddenly goes
south, the picture wastes little time getting audiences on an intimate basis with its characters and the
indignities of midlife, middle-class malaise. These include another scene of coitus interruptus, a his-and-hers
montage of invasive medical exams, and numerous casual discussions of flatulence and bowel movements;
it's the stuff of any number of raunchy comedies, but played here in a manner that not only elicits laughs, but
also strips away everyone's defenses to probe the soft, vulnerable places underneath.
Debbie, who insists on telling others she's still 38, impulsively initiates a household self-improvement plan:
no more cigarettes for her, no more junk food for Pete, and much less time spent on the Internet for
everyone. This last restriction doesn't sit well with their Facebook-obsessed daughter, Sadie (Maude
Apatow), who, at the difficult age of 13, finds herself increasingly at odds with her parents and her 8-year-old
sister, Charlotte (Iris Apatow).
The universal pressures of raising kids right, eating well, exercising regularly, keeping the house tidy,
maintaining sexual passion and weathering the distractions of the technology age prove remarkably fertile
subject matter for a comedy, and Apatow takes his portrait of marital strain one step further by delving into
the family's finances. Debbie, who owns a clothing store, suspects one of her employees (Megan Fox) is
stealing from the till, while Pete, who runs a record label, has a habit of signing critically respected,
commercially hopeless acts. It doesn't help that he can't stop lending money to his freeloading father, Larry
(Albert Brooks).
As accessible as Pete and Debbie are as characters, they also benefit from Apatow's distinct verbal
acumen, swearing like sailors, often reverting to self-shielding sarcasm, and defending their singular popculture tastes with die-hard enthusiasm. Rudd layers his good-guy demeanor with a sardonic edge that can
ignite, when provoked, into full-blown rage. Mann, meanwhile, shows a quicksilver brilliance in a role that
reveals strong reserves of compassion and complexity beneath a
testy, impatient surface; when Debbie makes an alarming discovery
halfway through the picture, the wordless play of inchoate emotions
on the actress' face is something to see.
The ensemble is studded with superb supporting players, many of
them Apatow alums: Melissa McCarthy as another kid's belligerent mom
(yielding some of the funniest end-credits outtakes in recent memory); Jason
Segel as Debbie's smug personal trainer; and Chris O'Dowd as Pete's lazy
assistant. Fox comes off surprisingly well, locating unexpected pathos
beneath her supermodel veneer. Yet the standout is Brooks, infuriating and
lovable as Pete's mooch of a dad; the stark contrast between loquacious
Larry and Debbie's distant, politely Waspish dad (a fine John Lithgow) feels a
bit tidy, but the performances are so good it scarcely matters.
This is a nicely acted film telling a story that will appeal to all that liked CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER, HIT
AND RUN, HOPE SPRINGS, MEN IN BLACK 3, VALENTINE’S DAY, THE CAMPAIGN, FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY
and THE VOW.
3/26
1
LINCOLN
$163 MILL BO 2293 SCREENS
DRAMA
PG-13 150 MINUTES
Daniel Day-Lewis (MY LEFT FOOT, THE BOXER, THERE WILL
BE BLOOD)
Sally Field (MRS. DOUBTFIRE, NORMA RAE, ABSENCE OF
MALICE, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, PUNCHLINE)
David Strathairn (THE RIVER, EIGHT MEN OUT, THE WHISTLE
BLOWER, WE ARE MARSHALL)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (PREMIUM RUSH, INCEPTION, THE DARK
KNIGHT RISES)
Tommy Lee Jones (THE FUGITIVE, MEN IN BLACK 3, COAL MINER’S DAUGHER,
HOPE SPRINGS)
Liberally adapted from Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 book "Team of Rivals," Tony Kushner's script
dramatizes the behind-the-scenes story of the wheeling and dealing required to pass the 13th Amendment -undoubtedly the legacy for which Lincoln hoped to be remembered, not realizing how compelling audiences
would find every aspect of his private life 144 years later.
Emphasizing talk over action, Kushner concentrates on Lincoln's strategy of forcing an unpopular
and recently defeated policy through a lame-duck House of Representatives. Enlisting three buffoonish votebuyers (James Spader, John Hawkes and Tim Blake Nelson), the executive doesn't hesitate to exploit his
immense powers, which extend to offering cushy government jobs, pardons and
other presidential privileges to those willing to embrace his position.
This is politics as it is really played, yet few writers have found a way to
make it as compelling as Kushner does here. That success owes in part to the
extensive character-actor ensemble Spielberg and casting director Avy Kaufman
have enlisted, repaying them with dramatic roles for not only Lincoln's entire cabinet
(most prominently David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward), but more
than a dozen key allies and opponents of the 13th Amendment, including Lee Pace
as a showboating Democrat, Michael Stuhlbarg as a conscience-conflicted swing
voter and David Costabile as the doubting Thomas among Lincoln's closest
supporters.
Despite occasional digressions into spectacular but artificial-looking Civil
War battlefields, the action is rowdiest on the floor of Congress, where Republican representative Thaddeus
Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) trades scathing barbs with such ideological rivals as George Pendleton (Peter
McRobbie, who more closely resembles frown-creased portraits of the real-life Stevens than Jones does).
Though the film inevitably deals with Lincoln's assassination, notably played offscreen, the climax comes
during the Congressional vote itself, in which Spielberg allows the names of history's heroes to ring out the
way he previously did those saved on Schindler's list. Even more effective is the way Kushner integrates the
full text of the Gettysburg Address and the 13th Amendment into the body of the film.
Still, since audiences inevitably prefer personal intrigue to the inner workings of politics, Kushner laces
"Lincoln" with details about first lady "Molly" (Sally Field), as Abe called his wife, Mary, and sons Tad
(Gulliver McGrath) and Robert (Joseph Gordon Levitt), who withdraws from Harvard in order to enlist in the
Union army, despite his father's adamant demands to the contrary. Still, these human-interest scenes seem
to get in the way of the story at hand, offering valuable, intimate glimpses of the Lincolns as seldom seen
before, yet inorganic to the abolition of slavery -- save one powerful scene, when Mary, having already lost
one son and loathe to watch Robert perish in the Civil War, publicly threatens her husband, "If you fail to
acquire the necessary votes, woe unto you, you will have to answer to me." Spielberg and Kushner hold this
truth to be self-evident: that behind every powerful man is a woman pushing him toward greatness.
Such crushing grief falls instead to Field, whose long-suffering Mary endured debilitating migraines
and deep depression after the death of their son Willie, but also scandalously overspent in her efforts to outfit
the White House -- and herself -- to a level she felt befitting the first family. Curiously, Mary was a decade
Abraham's junior, though Field is actually a decade older than Day-Lewis, creating an odd, almost maternal
dynamic between the two actors.
Meanwhile, Day-Lewis plays Lincoln as a physically awkward but not unhandsome figure, gentle with
his children, uncomfortable with ceremony (his disdain of calfskin gloves becomes a running joke), and firm
when needed with colleagues who could not always see the wisdom in the man some considered "the
capitulating compromiser." This Lincoln is a lover of theatre and avid raconteur who easily quotes from
Shakespeare and scripture, a man who problem-solves via storytelling Perhaps that explains the staginess
of "Lincoln's" telling, right down to the creak of the boards under the great orator's feet and d.p. Janusz
Kaminski's conservative framing, which recalls either classic prosceniums or heavily shadowed Renaissance
paintings. Though incongruous with the psychological realism that Kushner, through elevated dialogue, aims
to achieve, this iconic style suits such a beloved persona.
And yet, Lincoln's life takes a backseat to the ideological battle between two opposing ideas -- an end to
slavery, or an end to war. The result looks as much like a Natural History Museum diorama as it sounds: a
respectful but waxy re-creation that feels somehow awe-inspiring yet chillingly lifeless to behold, the great
exception being Jones'
This is an incredible film form all points of view and will be a huge hit with all that loved THE
AVENGERS, LOOPER, TAKEN 2, SKYFALL, ARGO, SAFE HOUSE, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, and
THE HUNGER GAMES.
3/26
1
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
$63 MILL BO
3206 SCREEN
PG
COMEDY
104 minutes
Billy Crystal (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, CITY SLICKERS,
ANALYZE THIS)
Bette Midler (THE ROSE, DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS,
SCENES FROM A MALL, STELLA)
Marisa Tomei (MY COUSIN VINNIE, THE WRESTLER, CRAZY
STUPID LOVE, THE LINCOLN LAWYER)
Billy Crystal stars as Artie Decker, a sports announcer for a minor league
baseball team who still has aspirations to work with the San Francisco Giants.
Reality comes crashing down, however, when he is fired from his job by a boss who tells him that he needs
to get with the times and make use of Facebook and Twitter. Artie’s complete lack of understanding of these
social platforms leads to one of the movie’s funniest scenes, illustrating that Artie now lives in a world he can
sadly no longer compete with.
Fast forward a few months later, when Artie and his wife Diane
(Midler) decide to travel to Atlanta to babysit their three grand kids when
the parents take a much needed vacation. Their daughter Alice (Tomei)
and her husband Phil (Tom Everett Scott) live in a technologically
advanced home with that automated female voice alerting its occupants
to when the front door is open. Looking at this house with its myriad of
computer screens and solar panels, we
already know that Artie and Diane are going
to be in trouble.
Things get off to an uneasy start as Artie gives his grandchildren super
soakers, and the youngest takes aim at his crotch and makes it look like Artie
wet his pants. We have all seen this before, but things get better very quickly as
we start to see how these three kids are unique in their own ways.
The young actors cast as the kids are a large part of the film’s success,
and they all manage to hold their own with established movie stars like Crystal and Midler.
Kyle Harrison Breitkopf plays Barker, the youngest child of the bunch, and he shares crack comic timing with
Crystal in scenes where he is trapped in his car seat. The negotiations between these two are cheerfully
amusing, and Breitkopf deserves credit for not making Barker the usual annoying brat that occupies movies
like these days.
But the most impressive of the bunch is Joshua Rush who plays the middle child, Turner. Having to
deal with a stutter that makes him the easy target of bullies, he wins us over because we can see in his eyes
that things will get better for him, and we love it when they do. The moments he shares with Crystal
are especially sweet, especially when Crystal introduces him to one of baseball history’s greatest moments.
This leads to a great scene towards the movie’s end that may have you teary-eyed with joy.
The whole cast works very well in this endearing family comedy. A fine respite from so
many animated films, this one is very easy to take and will have strong appeal for all that liked HERE
COMES THE BOOM, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, BRAVE, MEN IN
BLACK 3, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, and HOP.
3/26
2
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
$16 MILL BO
2145 SCREENS
R
DRAMA
97 MINUTES
Brad Pitt (THELMA AND LOUISE, BURN AFTER READING,
MONEY BALL, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, THE FIGHT CLUB)
Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR, HALL PASS, LET ME IN,
LIBERAL ARTS)
James Gandolfini (TV’S SOPRANOS, THE MEXICAN,
Ray Liotta (GOODFELLAS, FIELD OF DREAMS, CHARLIE ST.
CLOUD, DATE NIGHT, WILD HOGS, BLOW)
It begins with the setup for a particularly pathetic crime, as pudgy midlevel crook
Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) taps ratty up-and-comer Frankie (Scoot McNairy) to rob a card game run
by mob hustler Markie (Ray Liotta). To Johnny's chagrin, Frankie foolishly chooses perpetually strung-out
loser Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) as his partner. These two dumb kids proceed to hold up the game and make
off with the mob's stash, in one of the few sequences that delivers a jolt of tightly coiled suspense, albeit
stemming more from the culprits' bumbling incompetence than from anything else.
"You know they're gonna kill ya?" Markie murmurs to Russell mid-heist, a look of genuine sympathy
on his face. The movie goes on to glumly prove his point, as his higher-ups bring in their smooth, reliable and
unfailingly pragmatic enforcer, Jackie Cogan (Pitt), to wipe out those responsible. When suspicion falls on
Markie, Pitt becomes the very picture of a reluctant assassin, one who kills strictly out of professional
obligation and often hires others to do the dirty work. "I like to kill 'em softly -- from a distance," he says,
summing up the joyless efficiency with which he goes about his job.
Retaining the pungent, Elmore Leonard-esque tang of Higgins' dialogue, yet rendering it tighter and more
comprehensible for the screen, Dominik's loquacious screenplay employs a stop-and-go rhythm, dominated
by lengthy, two-character exchanges punctuated by potent spasms of violence. Not even a routine beating
can be dished out without copious amounts of planning, hedging, negotiating, arguing and cussing
beforehand, the goombah equivalent of bureaucratic red tape. When the attacks do arrive, they're amply
foreshadowed, alternately sped up or slowed down for heightened dramatic impact, yet drained of anything
that might be mistaken for a rush of pleasure.
Certainly not for all tastes, especially those of straight-up action fans, the picture's restraint places a
considerable burden on the actors to maintain interest, which they shoulder impressively. A couple of them
get great, tongue-in-cheek entrances; Pitt's Jackie, sporting shades and
slicked-back hair, packs just a hint of a strut as he strides into the frame
backed by Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around." James Gandolfini,
amusingly disagreeable as a hitman who's let his taste for booze and
prostitutes ruin his killer instincts, is introduced getting off a plane like a
shlub attending a sales convention.
Everything about this film works so nicely that you will be
pulled in to the story and very engaged with the characters. Fans of
ARGO, TAKEN 2, LAWLESS, KILLER JOE, SAVAGES, THE DEBT,
THE SAFE HOUSE, and THE LINCOLN LAWYER will all like this one.
3/26
3
THE COLLECTION
$7 MILL BO
1403 SCREENS
HORROR/THRILLER
R 85 MINUTES
Josh Stewart (TV’S CRIMINAL MINDS, THE DARK KNIGHT
RISES, LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, THE COLLECTOR)
Emma Fitzpatrick (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, TV’S CSI NY)
Picking up where THE COLLECTOR left off THE COLLECTION establishes an
anonymous urban locale terrorized by a psycho killer with no method to his
madness. Without the luxury of the first film's slow-burn opening act, the sequel
leans on pre-existing iconography to build tension: the Collector's black mask
obscuring everything but his beady eyes and predatory mouth; the red trunk he
uses to "collect" a lone survivor of each massacre; an ominous tripwire
connected to something sharp and lethal. Once filmmakers (and "Saw" sequel alums) Marcus Dunstan and
Patrick Melton hurriedly introduce new protagonist Elena (fitzpatrick), it's off to the races for nonstop,
nonsensical brutality.
Elena and pals head to a secret underground club (the password is "nevermore," natch) where the
Collector waits in the shadows with a plan to orchestrate mass murder. In what should be one of the film's
standout set pieces, dozens of clubgoers are simultaneously slaughtered by a massive combine-harvester
blade rigged to descend from the ceiling. But the sequence is little more than a jumble of frenetically cuttogether close-ups, and the first of many examples of the film's "more is more" philosophy coming into
conflict with the constraints of a low budget.
While Elena is dragged off to the villain's secret lair, the
pic reintroduces the first film's scrappy survivor, Arkin (Josh
Stewart), who manages to break free only to be recruited by
Elena's mysterious protector, Lucello (Lee Tergesen). Lucello
has assembled a team to hunt down the Collector and rescue
Elena, and they need Arkin's help. But this time he's on the
Collector's home turf: The rundown Hotel Argento (wink, wink),
a more elaborate version of the booby-trapped mansion from
part one.
The cast is fine for this outing and the story and gore will have strong appeal to all that liked SILENT
HILL: REVELATION, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, IMMORTALS, THE BOURNE LEGACY, THE
COLLECTOR, THE POSSESSION, CABIN IN THE WOODS, and BATTLESHIP.